1948 England and Australia match used signed cricket bat - signed to the front by 14x Australian players to include a rare Sidney Barnes hand written signature plus Bradman, Hassett, Morris, Miller, Lindwall, Johnson, Saggers, Hammence, Loxton, Brown, McCool, Harvey, Barnes and King
- together with 12x England players to incl Yardley, Edrich, Hutton, Compton, Laker, Coxon, Wright, Bedser, Washbrook, Evans, Young and Emmett plus one other - also signed on the back by Lancashire (12), Gloucester (11), Essex (11) and Surrey (10) - signed on a full size
Alfred Jamieson & Co Ltd London "The Caerulex"
An excellent rare item of cricket memorabilia
To quote a recent sale:
A cricket bat used by Australian great Donald Bradman and signed by his 1948 "Invincible" team is expected to fetch up to 20,000 Australian dollars (USD 17,900) at auction this month, an auctioneer said today.
Charles Leski, whose company is selling the item, said Bradman used the Sykes bat to score 115 in his final first-class innings at home before the team travelled to England in 1948.
The Invincibles went on to become -- and remain -- the only Australian side to go through an entire Ashes tour unbeaten.
The item, which spent 20 years on display at the Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA) from 1984, will be auctioned on August 15 in Melbourne.
"Few items of cricketing memorabilia overshadow those belonging to Sir Donald Bradman," Leski said.
"Of these, his bats are among the most prized possessions because they were his ultimate stock in trade.
"Together with his baggy green caps, they represent his unique talent that has yet to be matched."
The legendary Australia batsman, who died aged 92 in 2001, played his last match in England in 1948 and retired with a yet-to-be-topped Test batting average of 99.94 despite scoring a duck in his final innings.
The Australian cricket team in England in 1948 was captained by Don Bradman, who was making his fourth and final tour of England. The team is famous for being the first Test match side to play an entire tour of England without losing a match. This feat earned them the nickname of The Invincibles, and they are regarded as one of the greatest cricket teams of all time. According to the Australian federal government the team "is one of Australia's most cherished sporting legends".[1]
Including five Test matches, Australia played a total of 31 first-class fixtures, plus three other games, two of the non-first-class matches being played in Scotland. They had a busy schedule, with 112 days of play scheduled in 144 days, meaning that they often played every day of the week except Sunday. Their record in the first-class games was 23 won and 8 drawn; in all matches, they won 25 and drew 9; many of the victories were by large margins. They won the Test series 4–0 with one draw.
The strength of the Australian team was based around its formidable batting line-up, which included Bradman, Arthur Morris, vice-captain Lindsay Hassett, Neil Harvey and Sid Barnes, and the hostile fast bowling of Ray Lindwall, Keith Miller and Bill Johnston.
Due to the popularity of Bradman, generally regarded as the greatest batsman of all time, and the fact that he had announced that it was his farewell international tour, the Australians were greeted with much fanfare across the country, and many records for match attendances were broken.[2] The record for Test attendance at a match in England was broken three times, in the Second, Third and Fourth Tests, and stands to this day.
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